Worst Customer Service Ever (Part 1)

[meegbear]

Jo-Ann Fabrics Refuses To Let Customer Use Bathroom, Even As She Suffers Diarrhea Right In Front Of Them

Monday, July 2, 2007
Catherine W. (redacted)

Darrell Webb
Jo-Ann Stores, Inc.
5555 Darrow Road
Hudson, OH 44236-4054

Dear Mr. Webb,

On Friday, June 29th at approximately 2:15 pm I was shopping in the Jo-Ann Fabrics store in Logansport, Indiana. While shopping, I suddenly experienced unexpected and intense diarrhea. I approached an employee and asked her if I could use the rest room. She said she was not allowed to let me use it. I discreetly explained my situation to her and she said I would have to speak to the assistant manager..."

I approached the assistant manager, Carla Cogswell, and again requested to use the facilities. She said no and I told her I was experiencing severe diarrhea as we spoke. She again said no and quoted a recent policy change regarding the rest room facilities not being up to code and that they were not allowed to let customers use the rest room. I told her I understood but that this was an extreme emergency. I again told her I was experiencing diarrhea as we spoke and she again refused saying she could lose her job if she let me use the rest room and that there was nothing she could do.

At this point I was becoming extremely frustrated and feared that the diarrhea was going to run down my legs and drip onto the store floor. I was in tears, desperate for some assistance with my embarrassing and humiliating situation. I told Carla that I could not control what was happening and that the diarrhea was happening right now and that I was afraid it would run down my legs and onto the floor and that I was not going to be the one to clean it up if that occurred. I was put in a situation where I could no longer be discreet and was begging to use the facilities and by this time two other store employees and some customers were listening to our conversation. The assistant manager was extremely insensitive and rude to my personal emergency and directed me to go to the Rural King store next door.

I had to walk to the Rural King and all the way to back to the corner farthest from Jo-Ann Fabrics with my pants stained, dripping and smelling badly and do my best to clean up. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this was the most embarrassing and humiliating experience of my life.

I understand that you have a policy that customers cannot use the rest rooms but is it also your policy to refuse to assist customers whom become ill in your stores? Is it your policy to put your employees in a situation where they may have to clean up a customer's bodily fluids if they become ill in the store and are refused access to the rest room?

What happened to me was out of my control, I didn't choose to get ill in the store and I certainly didn't enjoy having to beg to use the facilities or having to walk through another public place in front of even more people to take care of my problem. If I had been allowed to use the rest room in Jo-Ann Fabrics the problem would not have been as bad, I could have cleaned up more easily and not have had such a mess and avoided the added humiliation of walking through a large department store to the back to find the rest rooms.

I will never shop in that Jo-Ann Fabrics store again. I was publicly humiliated in front of the staff and customers both at Jo-Ann Fabrics and in Rural King. Carla was rude and insensitive and was more concerned about her self than showing me even a shred of respect and human decency.

I hope that in the future, if any Jo-Ann Fabrics customers become ill in one of your stores and needs assistance that they receive better treatment than I did.

Catherine W.

Wow. That's really disgusting. Almost as disgusting as this joint's disregard for common decency and courtesy. Yeah, so your guest bathroom isn't up to code, which you confirmed for us when we called you just now, but that's no reason you can't let her use the employee bathroom?

We would love to read the reply letter from Mr. Webb's office. Don't think there's a form letter for that one.

[LostinVA]

1. In the manager's defense (having worked retail management)

I know how Corporate can be: managers probably WERE told they would lose their jobs if they allowed customers to use the restroom, and Corporate probably meant every word of it.

I would have allowed the customer to use the restroom, but I don't know the circumstances of this woman's life. It's possible she's in an area with limited decent employment, and she needs the steady paycheck and health benefits for her children, etc. I consider this the fault of Corporate, not the manager's.

[raccoon]

3. I would've let her use the restroom.

However, I can also see the point of view if the manager really believed she'd lose her job.

It's not just corporate that's like that. In a right-to-work, at-will employment state, people can fire somebody quicker than they can pick up the phone and order a pizza.

[LostinVA]

4. Exactly

Almost all of us have put up with stuff at work because we have to -- swallowing anger at the stupid boss, etc. But, that's very different than being truly afraid of losing your job. As I said, I would have handled it differently, but I'm not in her shoes, don't know what her DMs like, etc. It sounds like she was apologetic to the customer -- she just didn't blow her off.

[skygazer]

10. How would Corporate find out?

I understand what you're saying - I work retail, too, but if she was the person in charge, there's no reason to believe that Corporate was going to find out about one isolated incident. It's not like they're going to have a direct satellite link to the bathroom door (not at Jo-Ann Fabrics) and who else is going to tell them?

[LostinVA]

15. Internal Security (Or whatever they can it at Jo-Ann's) toll-free hotline, for one

A DM who just drops in whenever, and maybe questions the staff privately. Lots of ways for them to know.

[rucky]

11. Guess what...

manager will probably lose job over this.

[datasuspect]

12. no shit

i couldn't imagine any regional VP being that anal about bathroom policies, especially where it concerns an emergency like this.

any store manager worth their salt would be able to characterize their decision-making in this regard as going above and beyond for the sake of customer satisfaction.

if a person could stand there and SMELL what was happening as they spoke with the customer, and not try to assist this person, they are truly inhuman. a higher up in the chain would understand a mitigating circumstance.

[ChoralScholar]

2. I wonder how "up to code" their store will be

with a pile of feces in the middle of the floor.

[driver8]

13. Exactly what I was thinking. However, I don't think it would have been a "pile".

Just a guess.

[ChoralScholar]

18. okay.. maybe a 'pool' then.

[BlueJazz]

5. I would have let her use the Bathroom and if threatened with...

..being fired, I would have said this:

"Look ...I know the rules but there was a reporter in here buying fabric and I didn't
want the company...and WORSE...the public to read in the paper...JO-ANN PROVES HOW INSENSITIVE A COMPANY CAN BE TO A SICK WOMAN"

"I think I did the best thing, at the time, for the Company"

[MissMillie]

6. I think I would have told management

that it wasn't in my job description to wipe up the bodily fluids of customers that I can't allow to use the potty.

:thumbsup:

[LostinVA]

8. And, her boss may have fired her

It's sickening to have employees so frightened of their company and of losing their jobs for being a decent person.

[Sparkly]

7. Where did this letter come from?

Is it linked anyplace?

[meegbear]

9. Right here ...

http://consumerist.com/consumer/customer-service/jo+ann-fabrics-refuses-to-let-customer-use-bathroom-even-as-she-suffers-diarrhea-right-in-front-of-them-274441.php

I realized after the fact I didn't put it in and missed the edit "deadline" (whatever that deadline is).

[Crabby Appleton]

14. I worked at a place one that had the rule "Don't be afraid to break

the rules to take care of a customer if it seems like the reasonable thing to do at the time."

[Dragonbreathp9d]

16. I woulda dropped trou right there and left the steamer behind

[xchrom]

17. by the mere fact that this is making it around the internet

jo-ann is screwed.